Next Step: More Jet Noise!

It is official: Erik has finished Primary. This means the first part of pilot training is complete so now he can move on to a more specific platform. And of course he got his first pick - Jets. This is a really great milestone! The random hours, the various instructor personalities, the various fellow student personalities, the scheduling nightmares - it can all take a toll on a guy... especially with the combined stress of wondering if he will finish in time before Peanut arrives. I will also brag (since he won't do it himself) that he graduated on the Commodore's List with Distinction, no less! So...raise a glass and toast him wherever you are. Peanut and I are so very proud of dada-to-be.

"Smell you later, T-34's!"

So where do we go from here? Thankfully he selected jet training in Kingsville, TX which is about 45 minutes south of Corpus Christi (the other option would have been Meridian, MS). He will continue with a more specific training jet at that location - we should be there about 12 months. At the end of that? He will get assigned a particular jet (*cough* Prowlers *cough*) and we can hopefully make our way back up to Whidbey Island, WA to rejoin our friends!

"Aloha, T-45's!"

This does mean we will be moving next month. Second time this year. And now with a newborn. To a town where they list "Chili's" as the fine dining option. Wunderbar. The saving grace being it is only 45 minutes south and apparently they can deliver your stuff the same day that they pick it up - this blows my mind. I bet the stuff from our 2 month Japan move that journeyed across the sea may arrive in better shape (as it was packed by meticulous Japanese hands and 5 tons of paper and tape) versus what these local Tey-has guys will pound out in a day. Time will tell.

Will keep everyone posted of the move plans. We are trying to secure a house in the next couple days before you-know-who gets here!

Our Other Pumpkin

While incubating one pumpkin, we decided to purchase another for $3.99 at our local grocery store. Erik has been excited to carve a pumpkin this past week so he can get his skills back in action and impress Peanut down the road. He did a great job; it's spooky... but not too spooky!

"Innards... gross!"

"I'm too pumpkiny for this."

Concentration

Final Product! Hide Your Kids, Hide Your Wife!

A Birthday Has Been Scheduled!

Although anything is possible in the next week or two, the doctor has gone ahead and scheduled an induction date. This is based on the fact there hasn't been any progress or signs of labor. I suppose Peanut is super cozy so I will take it as a compliment.

So! We will go in on the evening of November 3rd to be induced for an intended delivery date of November 4th (around the 41 week mark). I really really really do hope that Mother Nature will start things on her own before then, but I'm overall comfy with this back up plan. It's hard to articulate this, but after all the anxiety and worry and getting ready over these last several months, it's almost anticlimactic that the delivery day is almost here. It's difficult to convey the feeling, but it is a positive and special place to be.

Until then, I'm keeping my tootsies up and enjoying the calm before the beautiful teeny weeny wittle storm!

Thirty and Still Nerdy

Last week Erik and I celebrated our 30th birthdays and I must say we are feeling pretty darn good! I think the whole having-a-baby-thing usurps the anxiety one may feel with closing the chapter on their 20's. Still, I would be lying if I said there wasn't some "Yikes, life is changing so fast!" thoughts floating in the air from the combination of everything. But all in all, we feel just plain blessed and lucky with where we are at.

Erik's birthday was nothing crazy, but a fun time nonetheless! Matt came down to visit, we watched a bunch of football at Buffalo Wild Wings (Redskins won in overtime!), they hung out Dewey's Beer Garden and we noshed on slow cooked bbq pork sandwiches later in the night. I also got Erik a PlayStation 3 (or as I liked to call it: the PS3-0 in honor of his birthday) which he has been faithfully playing since then. Whether the purchase prior to having a newborn was an intelligent choice? That is debatable. If anything, at least Peanut can use it to watch The Wiggles on Blu-Ray over the next couple years.

"I don't know it yet, but I am about to log 30 hours of Lego Star Wars playtime in the first week of having this."

Erik blowing out the candles on our birthday cake for the week. Maybe I'll make an effort for his 40th birthday to load the cake up with 40 candles. Until then, we are going with the decades method to avoid mass amounts of dripping wax.

In case Peanut decided to show up on our birthdays, we had his game time outfit ready.

My birthday was perfectly lazy and Erik surprised me with a really nice sewing machine after I had been making some comments over the last year or two that it was something I was interested in getting into. I promptly headed to the library to start getting my learn on. If you receive a couple mangled pillows as a gift or notice the curtains are all uneven in our house moving forward, just bear with me as I learn.

30th Birthday and 38 Weeks!

Trying to be artsy and form a heart over Peanut, but my puffy fingers were a little off in their design.

So no birthday surprises from the little one, but it is for the best since Erik still has a few more flights left before he can wrap up things here in Primary. As long as Peanut stays put until then, the timing will actually work out perfectly since Erik will have some extra free time on his hands to help out and love on us when baby is here!

Thanks to all for the wonderful birthday wishes!

I Believe You Now, Betty

Wow, when you don't eat the cookie dough along the way (aka "the one scoop on the cookie sheet, one scoop in my mouth method"), it turns out recipes really do yield numbers such as 3 dozen cookies. Who knew?

I know it's generally "frowned upon" to eat potentially salmonella-laden doughs and batters, but it is indeed one of the food groups I look forward to having a relationship with again down the road. Ah Peanut, if you only knew what mommy gave up for you for the last several months.

We Are Accepting Bets

As the date nears, we are starting to question more: What is this little guy going to look like? We chose not to get the 4D ultrasound to leave an element of surprise and I'm glad we are holding out. This time next month, we will know - in the grand scheme of things, we can wait. We made it this far, right?

Time will tell if he has Erik's high cheeks (gnome cheeks, as I like to call them) or my pronounced eyes (google eyes, as Erik likes to call them). We are pretty sure he will have light eyes, but will he be a brunette or blond? Or - gasp! - will some of the red head genes on my mom's side somehow make an appearance? I keep thinking he will look like a mini Erik, but we shall see :o)

Night Flights

After a temporary hiatus due to a clogged ear, Erik is back on the flight schedule! And not just any flight schedule... but the night flight schedule. He now gets to fly with the birdies bathed in moonlight. That's just my poetic take on things, though. Erik hasn't historically been a fan of flying at night and I can't blame him - I'd get the heebie jeebies maneuvering in the dark skies, too!

Regardless: Kudos for another milestone! This leaves him with a few form flights to complete and then hopefully he will be able to officially reselect for the jet community within the next couple weeks. Again, his hope is to eventually get back into the Prowler/Growler community so "graduating" here in primary with a jets bill would be the required step for that direction. I am 99.9999% sure that is going to happen, but it will be nice to see it on paper in the next couple weeks since the military is really good about playing around with those 0.0001% possibilities.

Don't Judge the Bright Pink Pants - At Least They Fit

Seriously, we have 6 more weeks of this (or more)? Things are still moving along uneventfully which is a wonderful thing, but lordie oh lordie I've been falling into the standard third trimester woes. My toes and fingers have taken on a sausage-like appearance and Tums have become my personal candy of choice. And you just can't feel that great about yourself when roaming the aisles of Target looking to purchase a "butt pillow."

Erik's excitement always puts things into perspective, though. His daily chats with my belly reminds me how special everything really is. And it's little moments like that or looking at Peanut's little clothes all lined up that put me back into the "attitude of gratitude." This experience deserves the utmost reverence!

In an unrelated note, we hope everyone is enjoying the football season thus far! There's nothing like lazy cooler weekends with lots of fun comfy foods (and Tums, of course!) to say that Fall is here. I think our heat index dropped under 95 degrees this week - great success!

Let's Go for a Spin!

We put together the strollers the other evening and they are looking pri-tty pri-tty spiffy. To put things into practice more, we strapped in Tutu Teddy (Erik's old bear) and Doug (my trusty sidekick stuffed dog) to test out the straps and everything. Assembly passes with success!

Sand Between The Toes

Sometimes in the hubbub of everyday life, we unintentionally ignore the fact that we do, indeed, live along the Gulf Coast. The beach is a simple 20 minute drive away and there isn't really an excuse to not visit and plop our butts in the sand more often. My only stipulation is that I like to be there and back before 11a to avoid the super heat. [Kate's Meteorological Scale: "Regular" heat is an index of 95 or 100. "Super" heat is above 100.] Erik isn't as much of a morning guy on the weekends as he still has the option to imbibe in the evenings, so its up to Peanut and I to make things happen. He was a trooper!

Afterwards we stopped by Snoopy's to get some fish and chips and sit along the water just a taaaad longer before we proclaimed our love for air conditioning and headed home.